Welsh Lib Dems Put A&E Crisis At The Top Of The Agenda

12.00.00am GMT Thu 17th Feb 2005

The Welsh Liberal Democrats will put the crisis in Wales' A&E departments at the top of the political agenda when the Assembly returns from its half-term break next week.

A&E departments across Wales are under extraordinary pressure. Patients wait on trolleys for hours for lack of beds and ambulances queue outside casualty departments instead of answering life-or-death 999 calls. The Assembly will have its first chance to debate the crisis in the Welsh Liberal Democrats minority party debate on Wednesday 23rd February 2005. The motion will call on the Minister to draw up a plan to deal with the problems.

Kirsty Williams AM, Health Spokesperson and Business Manager for the Liberal Democrats, said: "Tackling Wales' A&E crisis cannot be put off any longer. The Labour Assembly Government has ignored the crisis for too long. Front line staff in a number of hospitals have spoken out, ashamed of the service which is preventing them from providing the kind of care they would be proud of. "It is time the Minister showed he was listened to what he heard on his whistle-stop tour of A&E departments yesterday and detailed what he was going to do about it."

One possible way of easing the burden on A&E departments could be the introduction of walk-in treatment centres, which provide treatment for patients who might otherwise present at A&E departments. These treatments include dressings, blood tests and minor ailment treatments. Michael German AM, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader in the Assembly, visited a nurse run walk-in centre in Southampton this week. The centre deals with 125,000 patients a year, and such innovations could take a great deal of pressure off A&E departments in Wales.

He said: "The walk-in centre I visited in Southampton this week, is an example of a way to ease the load of A&E departments. Patients who don't need hospital treatment can be treated quickly and efficiently by nurses without clogging up the system for those who do need to be in hospital.

Mr German added: "Our A&E centres need emergency treatment. Walk-in centres could play a part in reducing the numbers who are presenting in A&E. The Health Minister has said he is willing to learn from policies that are working in England. He must give this urgent consideration."